Faculty Directory

Burns H. Weston is the Bessie Dutton Murray Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at The University of Iowa Law School, where he also served as the founding director of the UI Center for Human Rights from 1999 through 2004, and as interim director during 2006–07. Professor Weston currently serves as senior scholar of the center and as chair of the center's executive board. As director, he administered two major UICHR initiatives involving issues related to child labor worldwide. At Vermont Law School, he is a visiting distinguished professor of international law and policy.

Professor Weston is internationally known for his teaching and scholarship in the field of public international law and, particularly, international human rights law. In 2003, Professor Weston served as The Freeman Foundation Senior Professor of Law of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center of Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), teaching and counseling Chinese graduate students from China’s top universities. From 2002–04, he taught a research seminar on Child Labor and Human Rights and his survey course entitled Human Rights in the World Community.

Professor Weston received his BA degree from Oberlin College and his LLB and JSD degrees from Yale University. He received the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (DHL) degree from Marycrest International University.

An honorary member of the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law and a member of the editorial review board of Human Rights and Human Welfare, an international journal of critical essays and book notes on major human rights, justice, and welfare issues. Additionally, Professor Weston serves as a senior human rights advisor to UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy, and to the IKEA Social Initiative, established worldwide in 2005.

Visit Professor Weston's personal Web site at www.burnsweston.com.